


A Kiss For Good Luck

by bunnybopn



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Chirping as Flirting, Flirting, Fluff and Humor, Gentle Kissing, Implied Sexual Content, Kissing, M/M, National Hockey League, Non-Consensual Kissing, Roasting, Suggestive Themes, Tattoos, partater, self love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:47:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23196553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnybopn/pseuds/bunnybopn
Summary: Kent always had a thing for showing off his new tattoos.
Relationships: Alexei "Tater" Mashkov/Kent "Parse" Parson, Past Jack Zimmermann/Kent "Parse" Parson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 119





	A Kiss For Good Luck

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody and late St. Patrick's Day too you all!! Hope you all are staying healthy and safe. I'm bummed that the NHL regular season has been suspended due to the Covid 19 virus. Hurts my heart because my team was finally out of a slump and every damn sport analyst is confident they'll tank when try get back to playing(*waves Nashville Predators banner with tears and pride. Fight me!). If regular season get's canceled all together then they're going to the playoffs anyway sooo.... 
> 
> Anyway most people are cooped up in their homes so here's a Partater fic to help you with this trying times. Got to update my other fic soon but this got stuck in my head so I had to write it. 
> 
> You guys know the drill that Ngozi owns all her characters and Check Please!#Hockey. Real NHL players mentioned.

Kent always had a thing for showing off his new tattoos. 

His first one was a simple yin yang design on his upper right arm. He had just turned eighteen and been a ball of nerves as he sat in the shady tattoo parlor off the Vegas strip. He knew he didn't have to get it but he just needed to take his mind off the draft and losing his best friend/lover and was tired of drinking himself sick. It's not like he could get away with swiping alcohol now that he was in the limelight but honestly he needed a distractions, a LEGAL distraction to cover up the agony he felt inside. So he worked up the courage to make a trip by himself down to the first parlor he could find and pick out the simplest looking design with out hesitation. Simple or not it hurt like a bitch but when he looked in the mirror he couldn't help but take out his phone to snap a picture of it. He felt a weird sense of pride as he posted it on his Instagram page and walked out in to the warm Vegas air feeling like a weight had been lifted from him.

The largest one, the American flag and angel wings on his back, was his birthday present to himself. He just bought his mom a new house with that ridiculous NHL salary money of his and they had finally closed on it, moving her and his little sister in nearly a month before the 4th of July. After seeing his mom work herself to death with overtime hours and side jobs to provide for him and Katie this was his number one first major purchase since joining the Aces. She had begged him not to waste his money on her but as he watched his mom walk around her first house, flashing a genuine smile of pure joy on her face, it had done nothing but put Kent on cloud nine. 

While making plans for their first 4th of July barbecue in the new house she told him that he'd worked hard for his money and needed to treat himself, so he gladly took her advise to heart. He felt amazing as he made his way to his tattoo appointment a few days later with just the prefect idea in his mind. The flag was drawn downward in between his shoulder blades and faded off before mid back. The intricate wing designs sprouted on either side of it and he flexed the muscles below that gave it the illusion of taking flight. Him and the tattoo artist decided it would be best to do just a regular inking instead of adding color because of the shear size of it and after five grueling hours he was happy they nixed it. It was utterly stunning and well worth the money and time. One his birthday night he strutted around the gathering shirtless and when the sky lit up with a rainbow of fireworks his sister snapped a picture of him with his back turned while an array of colors decorating his body. It got re posted all over social media thousands of times. The #kentparsonbirthdaybash post had became a highly anticipated event.

The most well known tattoo was on his right peck. After the first year of being with the Aces ended Kent decided to get a black ace of spades and a one of spades playing cards there. It was only fitting that the end of the next season for him to add a two of spades. Now sporting a deck of seven it became a tradition to add another card and a new post to the Aces twitter page after each year.

Now this is where he got himself in trouble... sort of.

It was the off season and he had taken his mom and sister on a trip to Ireland. With both sets of his great grand parents being Irish immigrants the Parson family was mainly of Irish decent so why not go and see where his family came from. It was both exciting and ridiculously green over there and the culture shock was just what the little group was looking for. When they got back home to the states Kent got a tattoo of a shamrock over his heart to commemorate the trip. He literally thought nothing of it as he posted like usual until the next season started.

Maybe he shouldn't have added #kissmeforgoodluck along with that picture...

The first kisses came from his own teammates. It had been a gag picture for an Aces article and his shamrock tattoo came up in the team interview. They jokingly called him the leprechaun of the Las Vegas Aces for it along with the fact that he was the shortest member on the team. When the interviewer asked if anybody had kissed him for good luck yet, Swoops(and his namesake) had been the one to start the on slaughter. The first peck took him for surprise but he nearly died from laughter when the whole group swarmed to kiss him. It had not only gotten published in the article but a staff member was present at the right time to record them so the video went viral. It became a gag to kiss him for good luck and he was fine with receiving a kiss on the cheek from the wives and other Aces staff for shits and giggles. The joke that Kent was the lucky charm of the team had became an easy going thing that nobody took seriously until the Aces pulled off a ten game winning streak to the start of the season. 

All at once the hockey world noticed and it wasn't until a sudden and shocking kiss from a Red Wings' player, who later scored the game winning goal in their game match up, that things started headed down hill. During the after game presser that jerk stated that people had been talking about if the source of the Aces' bout of luck was true so he took it upon himself to test the theory. Kent might have had some regret.

A King, a Shark, two Bruins, a damn Capital later had Kent feeling a lot of regrets now. 

He never been one to belief in superstitions but each time he got kissed by an opponent on the opposing team the Aces would lose. It was like a weird game of tag within a hockey game as Kent had to dodge players to keep them from kissing him. None of them were subtle about it either as each inopportune contact was sloppy and ill aimed. That and combined with sweaty flow, rough stubble, and hot breath had made each capture very, very unpleasant. The Aces started falling behind so bad that they begun to get desperate. Each game play had one of the defense man guarding Kent on the ice to prevent others from getting too close and after one crappy shootout lose; curtsy of a terrifying check/kiss from that mutant Ovechkin at the end of the over time period, the starting Aces' goalie Jedi cornered Kent in the locker room. There has always been a mountain of proof that goalies were the weirdest members of the teams but the 'no homo but I need to kiss you before this game' had Kent researching about tattoo removals.

All Star Weekend finally came and he never been happier to get a break. He was selected for the skills competition again and kicked everybody's ass as pre-usual. Jack was there competing against him too, and even if the two weren't on speaking terms it felt nice to not sense any animosity coming from his ex. For the first time in months things were starting to feel normal again with him being able to skate around other players without feeling like he was being hunted.

It was right before the hardest shot competition started that he noticed Alexei Mashkov staring intensely at him. He knew this dude didn't like him but the look he was receiving wasn't what he belief was hatred but something in between deep concentration and confusion. Kent tried to ignore it but the large Russian was hard to miss as he stood out among the other players. Acting natural he joined a conversation between some of the St. Louis Blues players, discreetly watching Mashkov pull Jack over to the side to chat alone. He knew they were close so he tried not to think to much about it but when Jack turned towards him, not even trying to hide the puzzled expression he shot Kent before mumbling something to the bigger man, that sinking feeling of dread started coming back.

As players lined up for the next round Mashkov instead took a not so subtle beeline in his direction and the flight or fight switch begun to ring in his skull. When he skated to a halt in front of him everybody around began to mummer loudly because it was common knowledge that Alexei Mashkov and Kent Parson don't willing share a space with each other. In all honesty, Kent was terrified as he held the larger man's gaze, having to tilt his head up to look him in the eyes. It must have been a sight to see as they silently stare each other down among a crowd of people, not saying anything as the All Star team waited patiently for the Falconer player to get in the line up. Despite the building fear Kent couldn't help but be captive by the pair of rich dark chocolate eyes watching his every move when Mashkov's thick accent cut the atmosphere.

"Was wondering...." Kent immediately look to his lip and Mashkov paused for a split second until Kent's eyes meet his again.

"May... I kiss you?" He was asked.

"W-what??" Kent blinked in confusion.  
*  
"About to start competition. Want to beat Chara's record.." Mashkov shuffled on his skates like he was nervous.

"Oh." Kent blinked again as he processed what he was just asked. Of course. Why the hell else would Mashkov ever approach him for. "Oh. Sure...." he said under his breath.

Mashkov still waited patiently as Kent took a minute to remember that they were indeed being curiously watched by a few hundred people; thousands if the cameras were on them. Kent couldn't help but snicker to himself.

"What so funny?" Mashkov said in confusion as he watch the Aces' captain hold back a laugh.

"Brah it's nothing. Just, something occurred to me.." he unknowing gave a sad smile. "You're the first person to officially ask me for a kiss." Kent felt a odd feeling of relief as he straightened up and closed his eyes.

"Do your worst, man." 

There was another pause of just the background sound of people chatting and metal skates scrapping against ice as he waited for a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

It never came though.

Instead, a pair of the softest lips were lightly pressed to his forehead and Kent nearly lost his breathe as he struggled to stay still. It was over in a second and when he slowly opened his eyes he saw Mashkov's retreating form skating away from him. His face and ears felt like they were on fire as cat calls and whistling could be heard swirling around the arena. Mashkov stood with the other players who were hooting and hollering, slapping the man on the shoulder in true bro fashion but instead of a smug face the Russian had a pink tint to his high cheekbones that Kent tried to forget.

One by one each player took their two shots at the goal. The highest was 98mph so far and the crowd cheered when Mashkov got in position to shoot. The horn blared and the larger man took off and hit the puck towards the net.

103mph

Not Chara's 108mph but was abnormally high for Mashkov so the crowd cheered loudly as he got back in position again for his second shot.

Before the horn sounded a second time Mashkov's eye meet Kent's again and held it until the blare went off. Kent felt his breathe hitch in his throat as he watched the man go full speed towards the waiting puck and cracked his stick, nearly breaking it as the black disk hurtled towards the net in a murderous blur.

110mph

The deafening noise that rung around Kent did nothing to stop his jaw from dropping as they all witness Mashkov do what experts belief was the impossible. He broke the record.... he broke Chara's record.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The bar was loud and noisy as Kent filtered through the crowd with his drink. There were rowdy and drunk NHL players everywhere having a hell of a time with each other and Kent felt like the odd one out. Everything about that day had taxed his emotions dry as he watched the All Star highlights on the screen above. He found that the announcers were annoying as hell too as he took his time sipping on his drink, glad that no one cared enough to bother him for once. 

The screen suddenly went green with shamrocks and green hearts and Kent nearly choked on his drink as he took in the video. It showed a clip of the exchange between him and Mashkov from earlier that day and when he saw himself smirk and close his eyes he looked at the Russian's reaction. He watched as Mashkov appeared to have an internal battle with himself, looking at Kent like he was debating how to proceed until it showed him carefully lean in for the forehead kiss.

Damn did it look just as gentle as it felt.

He even saw himself sharply inhale when they made contact, not knowing he was doing the same thing in real life as he felt the ghost of those lips dance above his brow. Dear god the clip even show his shocked expression and the worst blush he had ever sported on national TV. He was shocked he didn't die from embarrassment.

That was the exact time the bar erupted in cheers as Mashkov himself came strolling in, making himself known as he chatted with everybody. Their eyes meet again among the crowd and Kent quickly turned away to not draw attention to the exchange. After a few minutes of loud banter and a round of drinks for everybody Kent felt a heavy presence sit next to him. They sat in awkward silence as they watched the highlights finish on the screen.

"Congratulations." He finally spoke, swirling his drink around to stay calm. "That was some fleet."

"Had help." Mashkov shrugged with a smile. "Take it anyway though."

A new drink was put before him so he knocked his current one down his throat before grabbing it.

"Go slow."He heard the Russian advise as he sipped on his own drink. Kent wanted to roll his eyes but he took only shallow sips anyway.

"Everybody is getting shitfaced so why do you care?" he asked nonchalantly while looking at the decorative bar lights over them.

"Maybe 'cuse I don't want drunk when ask for another kiss."

Kent blinked hard before turning to face Mashkov who was a lot closer to him then he first thought. "What?"

His companion looked slightly agitated as he took a visible breathe of air before replying again.

"Kent Parson, may I have another kiss?"

"Fuck no." He said without hesitation. He heard the man behind Mashkov; he swore it was Seguin, choked/laughed on his beer and that's when he became painfully aware that the bar had gotten a lot quieter then just a few minutes ago. These assholes were ease dropping. "Our divisions are going up against each other tomorrow and I'm not giving you fuckers anymore of an advantage."

This earned a hearty laugh out of Mashkov that vibrated off the room in waves. "Change mind about you!" He smiled widely at Kent which done something weird to his heart. "Used to think you rat but realized only rat around here was Marchand!"

"Eh, fuck you!!" Marchand shouted across the room which nearly made the drink go up Kent's nose as he held in a laugh.

"You know I meant what I said earlier." Kent smiled back after he recovered. "Not only for breaking the record but actually hitting the net too. Apparently that's a tough skill for players, especially if you're like Forsberg."

There was a loud scooting of a chair as Forsberg stormed out of the bar earning snickers and loud snorts in responds.

"Savage." Mashkov said while not trying to hide the way he looked Kent over. "I like that."

Oh. okay.

"So you won't give me a kiss," Mashkov downed his drink, "What can I get from you then?"

"Whatever you like." He leaned in, keeping his voice low. "I'm not all that lucky like they say but I can give a lot of other things if you're up for it?"

Mashkov chuckled to himself which earned a curious look from Kent. "Don't think bad but Zimmboni said something similar when ask about you." he mumbled low. Parson laughed a lot louder than he intended as he fought to compose himself enough to pay both their tabs and grabbed Mashkov's hand, making a show of walking out the bar together. "That jerk." he said out loud. "He's a bigger perv then he lets on but he's right." He threw his head over his shoulder as he stared down the bar full of men. "Let's get away from here. I'm tired of roasting these gossipy hens! I know plenty of things we can do that doesn't require kissing!"  
The whole lot erupted in a mix of disgusted noises and hooting perverted comments.

"Oh my god. I could have lived without that image!!"

"You like them big don't you, Parse?!!"

"I knew they were going to hook up! Pay up bitch!!"

"All you guys are fucking gross."

"Oh, look at this jealous prick over here. If you want Parse then got get him?!"

"Nah, he has a huge crush on Tater tot, don't let him fool you."

"Shut the fuck up!!!"

"Telling all you business, eh!!!"

Both Kent and Alexei laughed their way out the building in to the chilly air. They continued down the sidewalk in comfortable silence still holding hands and it felt good and freeing.

Kent finally felt like himself.

"So you have the shamrock, or maybe clubs right?" Alexei asked and Kent nodded. 

"Technically a 'young clover' but yes it can be seen as a club."

"You have spades on right side too." He signaled to his chest and Parson's ears perked up.

"Do you have any diamonds or hearts?"

Kent bit his lip. 

"Maybe. I don't post ALL of my tattoos on my page, for obvious reasons.." The heated gaze he got from the man made him hot all over in the cold night. "I have some that not even the boys can see even in the showers. They're well hidden. You can take a wack at finding them if you like?" It sounded like a challenge and the hungry look Mashkov gave him said he was up for it.

"Yes. Lets see if I can."

**Author's Note:**

> P.S. Sorry for throwing shade. I love Ovechkin and Forsberg. Marchand not so much.


End file.
